In one embodiment, the present invention involves a World Wide Web (“Web”) application that allows a user to specify a particular file naming convention for files downloaded by the client browser. A user may specify any combination of database stored document attributes (e.g., author, title) when setting file naming conventions. For illustration purposes, the particular Web application discussed herein is ScienceDirect, which is geared towards searching and retrieving peer-reviewed scientific papers.
An exemplary embodiment allows a user to specify one or more naming conventions for Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) files. However, this invention is sufficiently general to teach and encompass saving of a naming convention for any file type that is downloaded or saved by a Web browser or desktop application (or similar contexts, such as FTP downloads).
A common approach to organizing files within a desktop software environment is to apply a consistent file naming convention that will facilitate scanning and recognition. Currently, users must either type in desired file name portions (bits) at download time or save a file to the desktop and then rename the file, both of which are labor intensive. With the present invention, the user's system applies one or more user-specified file naming conventions to a downloaded file.
The Web contains many applications geared for various activities such as work, recreation, news, and shopping. Within a Web application it is a common task to download/open a particular document from within the client Web browser. This is most commonly done by selecting a hyperlink to initiate a file download (see FIG. 1). Documents that are downloaded can be of various file types, including but not limited to .PDF (Portable Document Format), .txt (Text File), and .doc (Microsoft Word File). For the purposes of this invention, a user may download, and simultaneously save and rename, a file from within the Web browser in at least 4 different ways:
(1) Select a hyperlink to the file using a mouse or keyboard. The client will either launch an associated application/viewer (e.g., Adobe Acrobat Reader) or will bring up a file download dialogue box if the file type is not recognized. If an application/viewer is launched, the user may save and rename the file with a browser menu command (see FIG. 2). Examples of the browser save/rename function are “Save As” (in Internet Explorer) and “Save Page As” (in Mozilla Firefox). If the Windows file download is launched, the user may also save and rename the file.
(2) Select the hyperlink using the mouse or keyboard and the correct application is launched. The user may then save and rename the file directly from within the application. For example, Adobe Acrobat provides a “Save a Copy” menu item (see FIG. 3).
3) From within the Web browser, the user may save and rename the file by right-clicking on the download hyperlink and selecting “Save Target As” (in Internet Explorer) or “Save File As” (in Mozilla Firefox). (Right-clicking is used in the Windows operating system.) See FIG. 4.
4) The user may also save and rename the file by typing the URL of the file into the browser address bar. See FIG. 5.
There is not an automatic method available today to override the static file name that is specified by the Web application. To apply a custom file name that meets a particular user's needs, the user must manually type in or paste text into the Windows Save As or Rename File dialogue box. The old manual way of renaming PDF or other files requires a user to perform the following labor-intensive steps each time the user downloads an article:
1) Recalling what format the user's preferred naming convention is for the particular file. This may involve opening Windows Explorer and browsing to the previously stored documents to determine how the user has previously named other files.
2) Extracting and applying the relevant pieces of information to be used in the file name. This would be accomplished by either a copy/paste method or by manually typing the bits into the file name.
Some products use a default PDF naming convention, but the convention is system-generated and a user is not allowed to change the setting. FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate two different default file naming conventions. Blackwell Synergy uses the digital document identifier (doi) as the default naming convention. See FIG. 6. The ACM uses the first page number and the first author last name in the default file naming scheme. See FIG. 7.
Many Web sites allow users to save personal preferences for the site (or application) using two main approaches: (a) user logs in with a user name and password and then saves the user's preferences to an application database; or (b) certain information about the user is stored in a browser cookie (allowing the user to skip all or part of the log-in process). If a client browser is set to accept cookies, cookies may be used to store information about the user that is meant to be applied at a later time to benefit the user—for instance, to remember a user's user ID so that the user does not have to retype the user's ID at each login.
In one embodiment, the present invention capitalizes on the ability of a user's preferences to either be saved in an application database or in the form of a cookie.
One goal of the invention is to ease the burden of Website users who repeatedly download files of a particular file type and rename those files for organization and/or recall purposes. In one particular embodiment, the invention is applied to ScienceDirect, a Web application for searching and retrieving scientific papers in PDF format. This embodiment allows a user to save the user's preferred file naming convention to the Web application database or with a cookie. Later, when the user downloads a file, the Web application will apply the saved naming convention to the downloaded file. An example of a PDF or file naming convention that a user may find useful is:
<first author last name>_<second author last name>_<article title>_<year of publication>.PDF
Because different users organize their files in different ways, there is not a one size fits all solution to file naming. This invention provides a user with flexibility in terms of how downloaded files are named. A user who uses one or more embodiments of the present invention can save time by not having to manually apply the user's preferred file naming convention each time a file is downloaded.
In one aspect, the invention comprises software stored in a computer readable medium, comprising: (a) software for receiving a user-specified file naming convention; (b) software for electronically storing said file naming convention; (c) software for detecting whether a file has been selected for download; and (d) software for displaying a default file name for said file, wherein said default file name is constructed based on said file naming convention.
In various embodiments: (1) said file naming convention is to be applied to.pdf files; (2) said file naming convention is to be applied to.doc files; (3) said file naming convention is stored in a cookie; (4) said file naming convention is stored in a database; (5) the invention further comprises software for displaying a graphic user interface on a computer screen; (6) said graphic user interface comprises selection means operable to enable a user to select an option to customize a file naming convention; (7) said graphic user interface comprises selection means operable to enable a user to select desired file naming bits; (8) said graphic user interface comprises means operable to enable a user to input desired words to be used in said file naming convention; (9) said graphic user interface comprises means operable to enable a user to input desired characters to be used between words in said file naming convention; (10) said file naming convention is specified by a system administrator; and (11) said graphic user interface comprises means operable to enable a user to specify an order of file naming bits of said file naming convention.